John McDonald

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Career Stats & Summary

Vital Statistics

Nickname(s)
Cracker
Born
1944
Place Of Birth
Toowoomba, Queensland, Australia

Biography

Toowoomba three-quarter, the son of Queensland RU Test winger John 'Cracker' McDonald, partnered Graeme Langlands in the centres against Great Britain in the First Test in 1966. A professional runner, McDonald's immediate career was threatened by an ankle injury suffered in that match but he returned to play in two Tests against NZ the following year. After scoring 18pts (2t, 6g) in the Second Test of 1967’s Trans Tasman series McDonald's value on the 1967-68 Kangaroo tour was measured by his five Tests appearances and his position as second highest scorer on tour. McDonald came to Manly in 1969 and, after playing for his adopted state, toured NZ as Australian vice-captain. The towering centre/winger played in all three Tests against Great Britain in 1970 and went on to captain Manly from the flank in the club's grand final loss to Souths that year. He returned to Queensland after three seasons with the Sea Eagles to captain-coach Toowoomba and was elected president of the club after his retirement. McDonald coached the Queensland State team in the late 1970s and was coach of the Maroons’ first State of Origin team in 1980. By the end of the decade he had progressed to the position of President of the QRL and in 1998, joined the NRL Executive Committee and was named Chairman of the QRL and ARL Board of Directors.

- ALAN WHITICKER

Career Statistics

All statistics shown in this section are based only on data available in the RLP database, and are not necessarily a complete and/or 100% accurate representation of a player's career. This information should be used as a guide only. If you see a question mark (?), it denotes that the figure is not available.

To view a list of corresponding matches, click on the Match list icon.

International

Test Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Australia 1966-70 13 5 9   - 33 6 7 0 46.15% Match list
Overall 1966-1970 13 5 9   0 33 6 7 0 46.15% Match list


Representative

Australia - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
QLD Firsts 1965-68 9 3 -   - 9 2 7 0 22.22% Match list
NSW Firsts 1969-70 4 - 1   - 2 3 0 1 75.00% Match list
NSW City Firsts 1969-70 2 - -   - - 2 0 0 100.00% Match list
Overall 1965-1970 15 3 1   0 11 7 7 1 46.67% Match list


Club Career

Australian League Matches - By Year

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly Warringah NSWRFL 1969 ? 10 -   - 30  
Manly Warringah NSWRFL 1970 ? 11 3   1 41  
Manly Warringah NSWRFL 1971 ? 9 -   - 27  
Overall 1969-1971 ? 30 3   1 98 ? ? ? ?  

Australian League Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly Warringah 1969-71 ? 30 3   1 98 ? ? ? ?  
Overall 1969-1971 ? 30 3   1 98 ? ? ? ?  

All Australian Club Matches - By Team

Team Years App T G   GK % FG Pts W L D Win %  
Manly Warringah 1969-71 5 30 3   1 98 1 4 0 20.00% Match list
Overall 1969-1971 5 30 3   1 98 1 4 0 20.00% Match list

Your Say

Stephen Lucas says: John McDonald played 66 games for Manly from 1969-1971 - not sure how many each year - but I don't think he missed many games if any in that three year period.

Also he only kicked TWO goals for Manly and had a total points tally of 96 points from the three years - hope this helps!
Cheers (28/02/2011)

barry poulter says: no mention of john was a famous professional runner

held world record for 400 metres bendigo 47 sec

from scratch mark had to go around all runners not run in lanes ran all distance from 75 yards to 880 yards (10/07/2012)

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Last modified: Fri, 22 Jan 2021 06:57:03 +1100 (Sydney time)